rasmus midgett house · united states department of the interior national park service national...

NORTH CAROLINA STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICEOffice of Archives and HistoryDepartment of Cultural Resources

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

Rasmus Midgett HouseWaves, Dare County, DR0606, Listed 10/21/2009Nomination by Nancy Van DolsenPhotographs by Nancy Van Dolsen, April 2008

Façade view

Rear view

USDI/NPS NRHP Registration FormMidgett, Rasmus HouseDare County, North Carolina Page 1

NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018(Rev. 10-90)United States Department of the InteriorNational Park Service

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM

This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in How toComplete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item bymarking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested. If any item does not apply to the property beingdocumented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enteronly categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets (NPSForm 10-900a). Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items.

==============================================================================1. Name of Property==============================================================================historic name Midgett, Rasmus, Houseother names/site number N/A==============================================================================2. Location==============================================================================street & number 25438 N.C. Highway 12 not for publication N/A city or town Waves vicinity N/Astate North Carolina code NC county Dare code 055 zip code 27968==============================================================================3. State/Federal Agency Certification==============================================================================As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1986, as amended, I herebycertify that this X nomination ____ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentationstandards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural andprofessional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property X meets ____ does notmeet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant ___ nationally___ statewide X locally. ( ___ See continuation sheet for additional comments.)

________________________________________________ _______________________Signature of certifying official Date_North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources __________________State or Federal agency and bureau

In my opinion, the property ____ meets ____ does not meet the National Register criteria. ( ___ Seecontinuation sheet for additional comments.)

________________________________________________ _______________________Signature of commenting or other official Date

________________________________________________________________________State or Federal agency and bureau


==============================================================================4. National Park Service Certification==============================================================================I, hereby certify that this property is:____ entered in the National Register ______________________ _________

___ See continuation sheet.____ determined eligible for the ______________________ _________

National Register___ See continuation sheet.

____ determined not eligible for the ______________________ _________National Register

____ removed from the National Register ______________________ _____________ other (explain): _________________

__________________________________ ______________________ _________Signature of Keeper Date of Action

==============================================================================5. Classification==============================================================================Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply) Number of Resources within Property

X private Contributing Noncontributingpublic-local 1 0 buildingspublic-State 1 0 sitespublic-Federal 0 0 structures

0 0 objectsCategory of Property (Check only one box) 2 0 Total

X building(s)districtsitestructureobject

Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register N/AName of related multiple property listing N/A==============================================================================6. Function or Use==============================================================================Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions)

Cat: Domestic Sub: Single DwellingFunerary Cemetery

Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions)Cat: Commerce Sub: Business

Funerary Cemetery==============================================================================7. Description==============================================================================Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions)

Other: Vernacular Two-story, Single-pile House


Materials (Enter categories from instructions)foundation BRICKroof WOOD-Shinglewalls WOOD-Weatherboard, Shingleother

Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.)

==============================================================================8. Statement of Significance==============================================================================Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the propertyfor National Register listing)

A Property is associated with events that have made a significantcontribution to the broad patterns of our history.

X B Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.X C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of

construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, orrepresents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individualdistinction.

D Property has yielded, or is likely to yield information important in prehistory orhistory.

Criteria Considerations (Mark "X" in all the boxes that apply.)A owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes.

X B removed from its original location.C a birthplace or a grave.D a cemetery.E a reconstructed building, object, or structure.F a commemorative property.G less than 50 years of age or achieved significance within the past 50 years.

Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions)ARCHITECTUREMARITIME

Period of Significance ca. 1890; 1899Significant Dates ca. 1890; 1899Significant Person Midgett, RasmusCultural Affiliation N/AArchitect/Builder Unknown

Narrative Statement of Significance (Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.)

==============================================================================9. Major Bibliographical References==============================================================================(Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.)Previous documentation on file (NPS)___ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been

requested.___ previously listed in the National Register___ previously determined eligible by the National Register


___ designated a National Historic Landmark___ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey # _____________ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # __________

Primary Location of Additional DataX State Historic Preservation Office

Other State agencyFederal agencyLocal governmentUniversityOther

Name of repository: ___________________________________==============================================================================10. Geographical Data==============================================================================Acreage of Property 4.51 acre

UTM References (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet)Zone Easting Northing Zone Easting Northing

1 18 457220 3933400 32 4

___ See continuation sheet.Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.)

Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.)

==============================================================================11. Form Prepared By==============================================================================name/title Nancy Van Dolsen date 1 May 2009street & number 1601 Highland Drivecity or town Wilson state NC zip code 27893==============================================================================Additional Documentation==============================================================================Submit the following items with the completed form:Continuation SheetsMaps

A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location. A sketch map for historic districts and propertieshaving large acreage or numerous resources.Photographs

Representative black and white photographs of the property.Additional items (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items)

==============================================================================Property Owner==============================================================================(Complete this item at the request of the SHPO or FPO.)name Raymond Stewart Couchstreet & number 41156 Hwy 12, P.O. Box 249 city or town Avon state NC zip code 27915==============================================================================

United States Department of the InteriorNational Park Service

National Register of Historic PlacesContinuation Sheet

Section 7 Page 1 Midgett, Rasmus, HouseDare County, N.C.

Narrative Description

The Rasmus Midgett House stands on Hatteras Island, on the Outer Banks in Dare County, NorthCarolina, facing east on N.C. Highway 12, in the small community of Waves. The propertyconsists of two lots, which each span the distance from the road west to the Pamlico Sound andtogether contain approximately four-and-a-half acres. The house was moved here after a stormin 1937 knocked the house off of its foundation. The house once stood closer to the sound. Thefront of the lot is cleared with a lawn and scattered live oak (Quercus viginiana) trees, while theback two-thirds of the property is left untended, with native growth and small trees, includinglive oaks and yaupon hollies (Ilex vomitoria). The remains of a boat house that faced the soundcan still be seen.

Behind the house, approximately one hundred yards, is the family cemetery which containsgraves dating from the 1860s into the mid-twentieth century. The graveyard is fenced, with awood fence that replicates portions of an historic fence that once encircled the yard. There aretwelve graves with large markers, including that of Rasmus Midgett, his wife, his parents, andsome of his children. There are noticeable depressions that suggest the locations of other burials.

The house was constructed in four building phases. The house was constructed ca. 1850-1860 asa one-and-a-half or two-story, hall-parlor plan house measuring approximately twenty-four feetby eighteen feet with an exterior chimney on the north elevation. An addition to the south end ofthe house and the completion of a full second story (if there wasn’t one previously) created acentral-passage plan two-story house during the late 1880s or early 1890s. About the same time,or shortly thereafter, a two-story, one-room ell was built onto the center of the rear of thebuilding to serve as a kitchen. Around 1910-1920, a small, one-story shed-roof addition wasbuilt to infill the area between the ell and the rear of the house at the north end of the rearelevation.

In 1937, a storm knocked the house off of its foundation. It is believed that the house had stoodapproximately halfway between the sound and the road, but after the storm, it was moved about200 feet to the east to face the road. About 1940, a small, one-story, gable-front addition wasconstructed onto the west side of the shed room.

The side-gable frame house features weatherboard siding on the first floor of the main block, ell,and shed room, and wood shingles on the upper story of the main block and ell, except for therear (west) elevation of the ell. The one-story gable addition has vertical board siding. Thehouse stands on concrete block piers and has a wood shingle roof. The main block and the ell ofthe house have a wide overhang to the roof which features exposed decorative rafter tails.

A one-story, shed roof porch with simple square posts runs the length of the façade. Three woodsteps lead up to the wood porch floor. The three-bay façade of the house has three four-over-four windows on the second floor, and two flanking the central front door. Exterior brickchimneys, approximately one-foot deep on the exterior, run up the gable ends. Four-over-four




windows flank the chimneys on each gable end. Paired two-over-two, double-hung sashwindows are located on the north wall of the shed room. A door opening (without door) leadsinto the one-story gable-roof entry on the rear of the shed room. Two one-over-one sashwindows are located on both stories of the south elevation of the ell, and most likely arereplacement windows dating to the late twentieth century. The east elevation of the ell has adoor and one, small one-over-one sash window on the first floor and one one-over-one windowon the second floor. A square open deck with a two-board railing and a wood floor fills the spacebetween the real ell and main block on the south elevation.

Within, the first floor of the main block has a central passage with a staircase on the southelevation with twelve steps to the second floor. The staircase has simple risers; during a recentrestoration, the missing balustrade was replaced with one that replicates the style found in housesof the period on the Outer Banks on North Carolina: turned newel with turned balusters. Alsoduring the restoration (2007-2009), it was found that the staircase needed additional support, so asimple, square post was added to support the upper floor. The post is approximately one-halffoot north of the staircase wall. The passage features a chair rail with vertical narrow boardsheathing below and horizontal board sheathing above the chair rail; the ceiling is sheathed withnarrow boards. The door surrounds in the passage feature rosette corner blocks. The doors intothe first-floor room to the north of the passage and the east room south of the passage are glazed.The door between the front and back room on the south side of the passage has a four-paneldoor.

In the room to the north of the passage, a stove pipe hole is located on the chimney (north) wall.A wide heavy board with molding above tops the windows and doors in this room. The southside of the house is two-rooms deep, with the front room featuring trim and wall treatmentsidentical to that found in the passage. A stove pipe hole is located on the chimney (south) wall.The rear room is a small bathroom. An opening at the rear of the passage leads to the kitchenwhich has late twentieth-century kitchen cabinets on the south, north, and east wall. The wallsare sheathed with vertical beaded boards, as is the ceiling, and the openings have plain boardtrim. A door to the south leads to a modern deck. A small narrow, door leads into the shed roomon the north side of the house. The shed room is sheathed with vertical beaded boards. Theinterior of the gable-entry at the rear of the house is sheathed in plywood. All floors throughoutthe first floor are wood, but the rooms in the main block of the house have carpet laid over them,and the rooms in the ell are covered with vinyl.

During the mid-twentieth century (ca. 1960), the west room on the south side of the passage wasdivided into a bath and a closet, with access to the bath from the passage, and to the closet fromthe east room. The bathroom was updated during a restoration of the building ca. 2007-2009.

Upstairs, the central passage has narrow horizontal board sheathing on the walls and ceiling, andsimple trim around the window and door openings. A small, narrow closet is located in thenorthwest corner of the passage. A patch in the wide-board floor, near the northeast corner ofthe passage and measuring approximately two feet by five-and-a-half feet, indicates where the




original stair rose from the first floor to the second. The room to the north has a patch in thefloor, approximately three feet across and a little over one foot in depth that indicates the hearthfor the fireplace, or the previous extension of a chimney, into this room. The walls and ceilingare sheathed in narrow boards.

As on the first floor, the area to the south side of the passage is two-rooms deep. The east roomis sheathed in narrow boards and has a board ceiling. Approximately two-feet south of the northwall of these rooms, the wide-board floor of the original section of the house meets the narrowboard floor that was laid as part of the addition. A narrow closet is located in the southwestcorner of the east room. The west room is also sheathed in narrow boards and has board ceiling,and has been divided (ca. 1960) into a closet on the south side, accessed from the east room, anda bath on the north side, accessed from the passage. The bath was added during a restoration ca.2007-2009.

At the rear of the passage, a door, one step up, leads into a room above the kitchen. This roomhas a narrow board floor, and narrow boards sheathing the walls and ceiling. A closet is locatedin the northeast corner.

All floors on the second floor are random pine boards, except for the bath which has a ceramictile floor.

The house clearly shows an evolutionary pattern of development, and retains its integrity fromca. 1890. The house has its original floor plan, walls, window and door surrounds, windows inthe main block, most of its wall sheathing and ceilings, and original exterior appearance.



Section 8 Page 4 Midgett, Rasmus, HouseDare County, NC

Summary

The Rasmus Midgett House, a ca. 1890 frame house on Hatteras Island, on the Outer Banks,Dare County, North Carolina, is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places underCriterion B for the life of Rasmus Midgett (1851-1926), an outstanding and noteworthy memberof the U. S. Life-Saving Service, and under Criterion C as a well-preserved, and increasingly rareexample of a significant vernacular house form found on Hatteras Island: a two-story, single-pileframe house with a rear kitchen ell with simple architectural trim. The period of significanceunder Criterion B is 1899, the date Rasmus Midgett received a Gold Life-Saving Medal for hissingle-handed rescue of ten sailors from a shipwreck. The Rasmus Midgett House exemplifiesthe type of house built by many fishing and life-saving families of Hatteras during the latenineteenth and early twentieth century and has a period of significance of ca. 1890, the date ofthe house’s construction, under Criterion C.

The Midgett family settled on Hatteras Island during the eighteenth century. Jethro A. Midgett(1820-1861) constructed a timber-frame house which his son, Erasmus Midgett, known simplyas Rasmus, (1851-1926), inherited and expanded in the late nineteenth century and in thetwentieth century. One historian of the U. S. Coast Guard stated that “Probably no one betterepitomizes what the U. S. Life-Saving Service stood for than Rasmus Midgett of the Gulf [sic]Shoal Station.”1 On August 18, 1899 during Hurricane San Ciriaco, Rasmus Midgett single-handedly rescued ten men from the wreck of the ship Priscilla. For this rescue, Rasmus Midgettreceived a Gold Life-Saving Medal from the U. S. Secretary of the Treasury. Rasmus Midgettserved as a surf man at the Gull Shoal station from the 1880s through the 1910s. During hisentire life, Rasmus lived in the house his father built and which he remodeled into theappearance it has today. The Gull Shoal Life-Saving station where he served was torn down inthe 1940s.

Like many of the houses on the Outer Banks, the Rasmus Midgett House has been moved at leastonce during its history. In 1937, a hurricane knocked the Midgett House off of its foundation,and it was moved approximately two-hundred feet closer to the road to the east (on the same lot)at that time. Although a moved building, the house retains its architectural character, as well asits feeling, design, workmanship, materials, association, and setting, and therefore meets CriteriaConsideration B for moved buildings.

1 Dennis L. Noble, “Excerpt: U. S. Life-Saving Service: Storm Warriors and Soldiers of the Surf,”http://www.uscg.mil/hg/g-cp/history/ h seacoast.html, accessed April 2008.




Historical Background and Maritime Context: The Life and Work of Rasmus Midgett,1851-1926

The Rasmus Midgett House stands on Hatteras Island, on the Outer Banks, facing N.C. Highway12, north of Salvo, in the small community of Waves. This northern section of Hatteras Island isknown as Chicamacomico or Chicamacomico Banks. In the late nineteenth century, the areabecame known as Rodanthe, with three small settlements being delineated: North Rodanthe(later Rodanthe), Clark (now known as Salvo), and between the two, South Rodanthe, whichbecame known as Waves in 1939 when a post office was established.

The Outer Banks are a group of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina. The shape andform of the islands, and the inlets between them, change in response to the violent storms andhurricanes that pound the region, and the more gradual process of erosion and silting of the sandbanks. The ocean side of the islands is sandy, and free of vegetation; the more sheltered soundside has wooded areas with small live oak trees (Quercus virginiana) and yaupon hollies (Ilexvomitoria), and open marsh lands. By 1780, small clusters of houses were located on HatterasIsland where villages exist today. These settlement sites were in wooded tracts on the sound sideof the island.2 Families that settled the island in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century,such as the Midgetts, Neals (or O’Neals), Fosters, Grays, and Ballances, stayed on the island,and many of their descendents occupy the Outer Banks today.

The Midgett (or Midyett) family had settled in northeastern North Carolina, and perhaps on theOuter Bank islands, by the 1790s, or even earlier.3 The earliest known owner of this property isJoseph F. Midgett, who sold the property to Jethro (Jethrow) A. Midyett for $250 on August 3,1847.4 In 1847, the property was the width of the island, from the sound to the sea, and wasbounded on the north and the south by land owned by other members of the Midyett (Midgett)family: Richard, Francis, as well as other land owned by Joseph F. Midyett; in the deeds no totalacreage was given for the property.

Three years later, in 1850, Jethro A. Midgett (as noted in the census) was living on his property,valued at $150 in the federal census, with his wife Bethany (1826- __ ) and their four-year-olddaughter Ann (also listed as Mariah or Maria), as well as a young woman, Louisa Neal, agesixteen. Jethro A. Midgett, age twenty-nine, was a seaman, but it is not known for whom he

2 Gary S. Dunbar, Historical Geography of the Carolina Banks (Baton Rouge, LA.: Louisiana State UniversityPress, 1958) 24.3 Midgetts are found on the 1790 census living in Currituck County (part of which later became Hyde County),including Joseph Midgett, Joseph Midgett Jr., William Midgett (two), Samuel Midgett (two), Thomas Midgett Esq.,Thomas Midgett, Timothy Midgett, Jesse Midgett, Daniel Midgett, John Midgett, Christian Midgett (two), andMatthew Midgett. One of these Midgetts, Joseph Midgett Jr. (b. post 1774-?), could perhaps be the first owner ofthe subject property or the father of the Joseph Midgett who owned the property, but a direct connection cannot bemade at this time. Or, of course, any of the other Midgetts could be the father of the Joseph who owned the propertyin 1847. Some Midyett family trees have members of the Midyett family living at Chicamacomico Banks by themid-eighteenth century. See http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=17665345, accessed May 2008.4 Hyde County Deed Book 2:204.




worked (the U. S. Lifesaving Service was not yet active on the North Carolina sea coast). In1851, Jethro Midgett was “duly elected a Commissioner of Wrecks for the Fifth Wreck district ofthe Banks,” by the Clerk of Court for Hyde County. It is not known how long Midgett served asa Commissioner of Wrecks.5

Erasmus (or Rasmus) Midgett (or Midyette) was born on December 23, 1851, the second child ofJethro and Bethany Midgett. In July of 1860, Erasmus and his sister Maria were living withrelatives, Anderson and Mary Midgett, and David Gray and Mary Gray; it is not know where hisparents, Bethany and Jethro Midgett were living.

Jethro Midgett died in 1861; the land descended to the two children, Maria and Rasmus, astenants-in-common. In 1870, eighteen-year old Rasmus lived with his mother, his sister, andMary Gray (age thirty) and her daughter Elvirah Gray, in the house on the sound. Rasmus wasworking in the fishing trade. He had attended school through grade seven.

In the early 1870s, Rasmus married a woman named Matilda, and by 1880 they had fourchildren: Cora, Arthur, Marietta, and Lorenzo. In 1880, Rasmus, his wife and children, livedwith his mother, Bethany, and Elvirah Jannett (the daughter of Mary Gray) and Mary Gray.Rasmus supported the household by fishing, and possibly, working part-time for the U. S.Lifesaving Service. Hazel Foster, Rasmus’s grand-daughter remembered her grandfather as aman of medium height and build with a plump face and a moustache.6

In 1878-1879, the U. S. Lifesaving Service built and manned the Cedar Hummock LifesavingStation (later the Gull Shoal Coast Guard Station) a few miles south of the Rasmus MidgettHouse.7 The Lifesaving Station was operated by a Keeper who was employed full-time, all yearround, and six surfmen, who worked three months per year.8 Although Rasmus Midgett is notlisted as a surfman in the 1880 census, it is possible that he was working as a surfman for threemonths and fishing the rest of the year.

According to Coast Guard historian, Dennis L. Noble, “the story of the Life-Saving Service onthe Outer Banks dominates the history of the Service” and the

Most notable among the Outer Banks life-savers is the renowned Midgettfamily, who has patrolled the beaches of the Outer Banks since at least the1790s. Even among other heroic families of Hatteras, the Midgetts areconsidered mighty men . . .over the years ten men of the mighty Midgetts havebeen awarded Life-Saving Medals of Honor, a record that remains unsurpassed

5 An image of the appointment appears in Dale Midgett, ed. “The J.A. Midgett Receipts,” Sea Chest, Fall 1978. No.1, vol. 5, 56.6 Belle Stowe and Helen Midgett, “Truly One of the Mighty Midgettes,” Sea Chest, July 1976, vol. 3, no. 3, 22.7 David Stick, Outer Banks of North Carolina 1584-1958 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1958)286. The Cedar Hummock /Gull Shoal station (Station #180) was damaged in a hurricane in 1944, and torn downafter it was decommissioned following World War II.8 History of the Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station, http://www.chicamacomico.net/, accessed April 2008.




in the history of the Life-Saving Service and the current day Coast Guard. . . .From 1876 to 1972, seven Midgetts have won the Gold Life-Saving Medal.Probably no one better epitomizes what the U. S. Life-Saving Service stood forthan Rasmus Midgett of the Gulf [sic] Shoal Station.9

The Life-Saving Service was formed as a federal agency in 1871; a life-saving service hadexisted previously but it had not been regulated or well-organized. Regulations were establishedthat required that life-saving stations would be no more than five miles apart and that the crewshad to train and practice with their equipment on a regular basis. In 1874, the life-savingnetwork was expanded to ten locations south of Cape Henry, Virginia, including the Outer Banksof North Carolina.10 By the end of 1905, there were twenty-nine life-saving stations along theNorth Carolina coast.

Rasmus served as a surfman from the 1880s through the 1910s. He received his medal for hisoutstanding efforts to rescue the crew of the Priscilla which had run aground on August 18, 1899during Hurricane San Ciriaco.11 According to a record of the rescue written for the Coast Guard,Rasmus Midgett was making a regular patrol on horseback south from the station that night. At3:00 AM he heard the sound of voices and “caught the outcries of the shipwrecked men.” Hesaw a part of the wreck, with several people crouching on it, in the surf approximately one-hundred yards offshore. When the surf retreated, he ran down and shouted for the men to jumpoverboard one at a time, and as the surf went back, he would take care of them. He stood up onthe bank overlooking the ocean, and waited for a chance to approach the wreck; he shouted forone man to let himself down into the water. Midgett entered the ocean, grabbed the sailor, andbrought him ashore. He did this seven times. There were still three sailors who were aboard thewreck but too exhausted to enter the water on their own without drowning. Midgett went out tothe wreck three times, and rescued each of the sailors. He sent the seven men who could walkback to the lifesaving station, and took the other three men to a safe place. He then rode hishorse back to the lifesaving station to get some help carrying the disabled men back to thestation. For his valiant efforts, Rasmus Midgett was awarded the Gold Life-Saving Medal onOctober 18, 1899. Although the mandatory age for retirement for surfmen was fifty-five, Rasmusserved into his sixties.12

In 1900, Rasmus and his wife Matilda, lived in this house with their son Lorenzo, a fisherman,their daughters Martha and Christianne, their ten-year-old son, Christopher, Rasmus’s motherBethany, and Mary Gray who is listed as a servant. Rasmus’s eldest son, Arthur, who was also asurfman, lived next door with his wife, Dorothy, and daughter Odessa.

9 Dennis L. Noble, “Excerpt: U. S. Life-Saving Service: Storm Warriors and Soldiers of the Surf,”http://www.uscg.mil/hg/g-cp/history/ h seacoast.html, accessed April 2008.10 Dennis R. Means, A Heavy Sea Running: The Formation of the U.S. Life-Saving Service, 1846–1878 (1987),http://www.lifesavingservice.org/article_2.html, accessed April 2009.11 This hurricane is listed as a Category 3 with maximum wind gusts of 130 mph. “Hurricanes,” http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/climate/hurricane.php, accessed May 2008.12 Mobley, Joe A., Ship Ashore! The U.S. Lifesavers of Coastal North Carolina. (Raleigh: Division of Archives andHistory, 1994) 125-127.




In 1913, Rasmus Midgett purchased the other half of the property from his sister Maria. Theproperty was surveyed, and still bounded by the sea and the sound, comprised twenty-five acres.Five years later, Rasmus and Matilda Midgett sold a small portion of the land (forty-two yardsby twenty-five yards) to their son Arthur; the remainder of the tract they deeded to their youngestson, Christopher.13

In 1920, Rasmus and Matilda Midgett, and their son Lorenzo, lived with Christopher and hisfamily. Arthur Midgett (still a surfman) and his family, comprising his wife, his daughter andher husband, Nelson Midgett (a surfman), and his son-in-law’s uncle, Bannister Midgett, livednext door. Matilda Midgett died in 1923 and Rasmus Midgett died in 1926, at the age ofseventy-five. On his tombstone, his family remembered him with the following words: “A lovedone from us has gone. A voice we loved is stilled. A place is vacant in our home which nevercan be filled.”

In 1937, an unnamed hurricane, with winds up to 120 miles per hour, swept the Rasmus MidgettHouse off its foundation14. The Midgetts picked the house up and moved it to face the highway(known as Beach Road at that time). 15

Christopher Midgett, and his wife, Matilda, lived in the house their entire lives, and in 1980, theydeeded the property to their daughter, Hazel and her husband, Ernal W. Foster. Ernal W. Fosterdied in 1996 and Hazel Midgett Foster died in 1999; their son, Ernal W. Foster Jr. inherited theland and sold it to Raymond Stewart Couch in 2006. Arthur Midgett’s small tract, which hereceived from his parents in 1918, is not a part of the current property; his house no longerstands.

Architecture Context: Vernacular Two-Story Frame Houses on the Outer Banks, DareCounty, North Carolina, ca. 1850-1920

The Rasmus Midgett House was most likely built ca. 1850 by his father, Jethro A. Midgett(1820-1861), as a one-and-a-half or two-story, two-bay, single-pile house measuringapproximately eighteen feet by twenty-four feet. The house most likely was a hall-parlor planhouse with the stairs rising to the right as you entered the door. The room entered would havebeen the hall, or multi-purpose room, and the room with the interior entrance would have beenthe parlor. One similar house was documented in a survey of Hatteras village, the W. H. GaskinsHouse, which appears to date to the mid-nineteenth century. Another house of that era, that wassubstantially remodeled during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, like the RasmusMidgett House, was the Henry and Christian Stowe House in Hatteras Village. The StoweHouse is also a hall-parlor house that had been expanded into the common three-bay, two-story,

13 Dare County Deed Book T:117; X:237; X:238..14 “Hurricanes,” http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/climate/hurricane.php, accessed May 2008. This hurricane wasrated a Category 4; the strongest hurricanes are listed as a Category 5.15 Oral Interview, Raymond Stewart Couch, April 21, 2007.




single-pile dwelling with a rear ell.

During the period 1890 to 1920, Hatteras Island experienced a building boom; new houses wereconstructed and old houses were remodeled. The area was prosperous: fishing was a lucrativebusiness and the government provided well-paid jobs in the coast guard and lighthouse work.For much of the island, the period from 1890 to 1920 is the first era for which a number ofhouses survive. Earlier dwellings were replaced, remodeled, or destroyed by storms.

Between 1890 and 1920, a distinct form of house was constructed: a two-story, single-pile,central-passage, side-gable dwelling with a one-story porch across the façade and either a kitchenell or wing with dining room, or a separate kitchen/dining building. Most of these houses hadwood-shingled roofs, brick piers, and decorative wood trim at the cornice. The houses are small,with passages about seven to nine feet wide, and rooms twelve feet wide; elsewhere the roomsand passage would be larger. These houses are also lower to the ground, most likely so they canwithstand the high winds that pound them. A form commonly found on the Outer Banks andthroughout eastern North Carolina, on Hatteras Island, this type of house was the most commontype of house built by successful fishermen, surf men, and their families during the first twodecades of the twentieth century. Five of these houses remain on the lower end of the island.Two of the houses, the L.N. Stowe House (DR 323) and the D.W. Ballance House (DR 331)were designated as potentially eligible for the National Register after a survey of HatterasVillage. The Ellsworth and Lovie Ballance House (NR 2001), the Styron House (DR 314) andthe Austin House (DR 328) have a two-room ell, while the L.N. Stowe House features a four-room ell and the D.W.Ballance House has no ell. All of these houses date to ca. 1890 to 1915,and are two-story, three-bay, single-pile, frame houses with partially exterior end brickchimneys, and most have a rear ell commonly with two rooms. The Rasmus Midgett House fitsinto the pattern, but has a one-room ell.

The two-story, single-pile, central-passage house with separate kitchen/dining ell or buildingrepresents a continuation of the traditional house form found in the village and on the islandwhich featured a separate kitchen building with an attached dining room. Most likely, prior tothe addition of the ell, the Rasmus Midgett House had a separate kitchen building that may havehad an attached dining room. The two-story single-pile house with ell or wing continued thepattern of separation of food preparation and consumption from sleeping and living areas. Thesehouses were built by families (Stowe, Ballance, Peele, Austin, and Midgett) who had lived on theOuter Banks since the mid-nineteenth century. This form, which allowed the residents tocontinue to live in their houses as they had for generations, prevailed over the bungalow form,which few families in Hatteras chose to build. The bungalow form represented a shift in livingpatterns, with all aspects of family life within one main block. The prosperous fishing familieswho had resided on the island for at least three generations chose to build a house that continuedtheir traditional way of life. The Rasmus Midgett House, a well-preserved and increasingly rareexample of this significant vernacular form, exemplifies this choice made by many of thefamilies of Hatteras from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century.




Bibliography

Bishir, Catherine. North Carolina Architecture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,1990.

Bishir, Catherine W. and Michael T. Southern. A Guide to the Historic Architecture of EasternNorth Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.

Butler, Betsy. Chain of Title, Dare County Parcel Number: 014278001.

Couch, Raymond Stewart, Interview with Nancy Van Dolsen, April 17, 2007.

Dare County Deed Books, Dare County Courthouse, Manteo, N.C.

Dunbar, Gary S. Historical Geography of the Carolina Banks. Baton Rouge, LA.: LouisianaState University Press, 1958.

Federal Manuscript Population Census, 1840, 1850 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1920, 1930.Dare County, North Carolina. http://ancestry.com. Accessed March 2008.

Graham, Willie. “Preindustrial Framing in the Chesapeake,” in Alison K. Hoagland andKenneth A. Breisch, Constructing Image, Identity, and Place: Perspectives in VernacularArchitecture IX. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 2003.

Midgett, Dale, ed. “The J.A. Midgett Receipts,” Sea Chest, Fall 1978. No. 1, vol. 5, 54-57.

Mobley, Joe A., Ship Ashore! The U.S. Lifesavers of Coastal North Carolina. Raleigh: Divisionof Archives and History, 1994.

Noble, Dennis L. “Excerpt: U. S. Life-Saving Service: Storm Warriors and Soldiers of the Surf.”http://www.uscg.mil/hg/g-cp/history/ h seacoast.html. Accessed April 2008.

Smith, Penne. “The Etheridge Homeplace: A History” Manteo, N.C.: Outer BanksConservationists, October 2001.

Stick, David. Outer Banks of North Carolina 1584-1958. Chapel Hill: University of NorthCarolina Press, 1958.

Stowe, Belle and Helen Midgett, “Truly One of the Mighty Midgettes,” Sea Chest, July 1976,vol. 3, no. 3.

Van Dolsen, Nancy. “The Historic Architecture of Hatteras Village, Dare County, NorthCarolina.” Hatteras, N.C.: Hatteras Village Civic Association, March 1999.




Verbal Boundary Description

The historic boundary comprise two tax parcels labeled Dare County, NC, PIN 19064820916096and PIN 19064820907968, on the accompanying map at a scale of 1” = 60’.

Boundary Justification

The boundary includes 4.51 acres of the property historically associated with the house andprovides an appropriate setting for the house.

rasmus midgett house · united states department of the interior national park service national...

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